Gendermancer
A few scattered thoughts that may approach a science fiction manifesto, for which I am sorry. The texts are Neuromancer (William Gibson, 1984) some of my nonsense (2018) and another story. You can click on the pictures of the text of my copy of Neuromancer to read the excerpts.
( “the future as nightmare” The Standard proclaimed it, and it was repeated on the cover. And yet things could be so much worse. And indeed sometimes they are in this very novel.
These are, of course, sex slaves, one of whom he is discovered having just murdered.)
Anyway, as Molly has her surgeries they begin to interfere with the cut-out chip; first she experiences events as dreams and later wakes up during a sex-murder scenario with a senator. So far so good, where good is a fairly gruesome pulp-noir story.
During Molly’s first meeting with Case she comments:
Wired is the word to conjure with there. Has her transformation into a street samurai, a violent mercenary, simply made her more herself than ever? Or has the that transformation changed her wiring, made her into a different person? Did the pre-surgery Molly not hurt people because she didn't want to, or because she was unable? Did the pre-surgery Molly hurt people already, and wanted to be better at it? She isn’t down with the more brutal sadism of the rich and powerful of the novel, but she is in no way gentle.
Molly’s final note to Case includes this:
The notion of free will and how that’s constrained by people’s nature is explored thoughout the novel. Maybe that’s even the most important theme. Wintermute, an AI, complains that people aren’t behaving according to their predictions; Riviera, a chameleonic psychopath, notes that things go wrong because he has the attribute of perversity.
The interference of two pieces of implanted technology, Molly’s cut-out chip and (presumably) the alteration of her reflexes is one of Gibson’s smartest and (simultaneously) most obvious concepts. Technology should just work. Then when you actually try and put two bits together... they don’t work as expected. There are unpredictable complications.
Molly and Case have sex as part of their relationship. If Molly’s wiring has altered her reflexes and her personality, has it also altered her sexuality? Does she have sex in different ways, for different reasons, with different people than she would before? Is her identity as Street Samurai skin-deep or is it wired into her body, below the conscious level, and has that been changed as her body was changed? Her actions under the cut-out chip bled through, have those had an influence?
I don’t ask this to criticise Gibson who boldly walked up to where these questions might arise while I was a child in junior school. I ask this because these are questions people are asking and answering. And because maybe I should be trying to answer them better. Or at least consider them better than I have been.
It’s not that snarky cyborg is a bad start for a character, but to make it the major attribute of what should be a smarter, better, more interesting exploration of Jack’s identity – including their gender and sexuality – is a weakness on my part. So when I come back to Jack and space opera I need to try harder.
Putting a coin in the “considered writing a literary manifesto again jar” now.
“Joke, to start with, ‘cause once they plant the cut-out chip, it seems like free money. Wake up sore, sometimes, but that’s it. Renting the goods is all. You aren’t in, when it’s all happening. House has software for whatever a customer wants to pay for...” (page 177)Molly was a sex worker to pay for her cybernetic implants (lenses for her eyes, blades for her fingers, faster reflexes). There are a number of points that might be raised in response to this; why do cut-out chips only seem to be used by/for sex workers? Why not other industries? Why not fit one to everyone?
( “the future as nightmare” The Standard proclaimed it, and it was repeated on the cover. And yet things could be so much worse. And indeed sometimes they are in this very novel.
(Ashpool has clone daughters with “... a peculiarly pliable imitation of autism,” whose “...effect is now more easily obtained by an embedded microchip.” (page 221)
Anyway, as Molly has her surgeries they begin to interfere with the cut-out chip; first she experiences events as dreams and later wakes up during a sex-murder scenario with a senator. So far so good, where good is a fairly gruesome pulp-noir story.
During Molly’s first meeting with Case she comments:
“’Cept I do hurt people sometimes Case. I guess it’s just the way I’m wired.” (page 37)
Molly’s final note to Case includes this:
“IT’S THE WAY I’M WIRED I GUESS.” (page 313)
The notion of free will and how that’s constrained by people’s nature is explored thoughout the novel. Maybe that’s even the most important theme. Wintermute, an AI, complains that people aren’t behaving according to their predictions; Riviera, a chameleonic psychopath, notes that things go wrong because he has the attribute of perversity.“An enjoyment of the gratuitous act.” (page 261)(There was a story published in Clarkesworld Magazine in January 2020 that has since been unpublished. It was this story that prodded my thoughts into action, but without the text available I shall not be using it in this piece. My discussion continues here with Neuromancer as the text again)
The interference of two pieces of implanted technology, Molly’s cut-out chip and (presumably) the alteration of her reflexes is one of Gibson’s smartest and (simultaneously) most obvious concepts. Technology should just work. Then when you actually try and put two bits together... they don’t work as expected. There are unpredictable complications.
Molly and Case have sex as part of their relationship. If Molly’s wiring has altered her reflexes and her personality, has it also altered her sexuality? Does she have sex in different ways, for different reasons, with different people than she would before? Is her identity as Street Samurai skin-deep or is it wired into her body, below the conscious level, and has that been changed as her body was changed? Her actions under the cut-out chip bled through, have those had an influence?
I don’t ask this to criticise Gibson who boldly walked up to where these questions might arise while I was a child in junior school. I ask this because these are questions people are asking and answering. And because maybe I should be trying to answer them better. Or at least consider them better than I have been.
(If you ask Jack their gender they’ll probably tell you to fuck off, though if they think you’re cute they might tell you afterward.) Space Stories/Tall Tales, Neil Willcox 2018
It’s not that snarky cyborg is a bad start for a character, but to make it the major attribute of what should be a smarter, better, more interesting exploration of Jack’s identity – including their gender and sexuality – is a weakness on my part. So when I come back to Jack and space opera I need to try harder.
Putting a coin in the “considered writing a literary manifesto again jar” now.
